The 2014 Booker Longlist

The longlist for the 2014 Booker Prize has just been announced. I’m impressed by the selection as it appears to be a nice mixture of themes and styles and some are new to me. Five books aren’t published until September, so we’ll have to wait a while for those.

Of those that I haven’t tried I’m most looking forward to reading Orfeo and The Wake. I haven’t had much success with novels by Howard Jacobson (don’t get his humour), Joshua Ferris (too experimental) or Ali Smith (too experimental) in the past and so may give them a miss unless someone can convince me they are vastly different/better than their previous novels. The rest look interesting and I look forward to trying them, but I’m in no rush, especially as most aren’t even out yet.

Delighted to see Flanagan on there. It’s by far my favourite book of the year. The story of how it came to be written / the research he did is almost more impressive (and as heartbreaking) than the actual book — and that’s saying a lot.

I read History of the Rain earlier in the year and quite liked it, but I wouldn’t peg it as the winner.

Kim, I haven’t heard the story about how he came to write it, other than the brief note on the blurb. I’ll have to keep an eye out for an author talk from him because I’d love to hear the background information.

I’ve a copy of History of the Rain here, but I’m not that excited about it. Perhaps it will exceed my expectations?

It’s such a great list this year! I’m currently on publishing work experience and have been working closely with the editor of one of the longlisted books that’s not out until September, and it’s so exciting to see the way the company adapts to accommodate the longlist. Thanks for this post on the keywords – I’m really wanting to read The Bone Clocks and Orfeo now. x

I was so thrilled to see the Karen Joy Fowler book on there — I loved it. And I’m sad that you weren’t able to enjoy it! I hope I wasn’t the one who spoiled it for you. I know I wasn’t super careful about spoilers on that one, because I was spoiled well in advance (the twist was the reason I was interested in the book in the first place), and I still thought the book was absolutely fantastic.

Jenny, No, don’t worry – it wasn’t you! It was actually the Guardian newspaper on Twitter. They started a whole conversation about the spoiler It turned into a big debate about whether or not it was right to reveal it, but it lasted several hours and I’m sure it led to many people finding it out. Such a shame.

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Note: All books on this blog are rated on a five star system according to how much I enjoyed them. The ratings are not an indication of writing quality nor how enjoyable you may find reading them.
I am notoriously fussy in my reading tastes, so the star rating will only help if you have a similar reading taste to mine. I tend to abandon books I am not enjoying.